# Another Thumbs Up for 4Noggins



## CWL (Mar 25, 2010)

Mods: If this isn't appropriate, please let me know.

I just wanted to give another "thumbs up" for Rich at 4Noggins.

I buy a lot of baccy and pipes online, but 4noggins has the best service.

Within the past month, I've made 2 purchases with them both on Friday evening, and they were delivered by the following Monday. Shipped free USPS priority mail.

This may not be impressive, unless you realize that _4Noggins is in Vermont and I live in CA._

They sure beat all the other etailers, especially the one that still charges shipping, puts me on back-order and then takes 10-days to get something to me. Yup, other people also have free shipping for over $100, but they also seem to take 10 days to ship when using the same USPS Priority, and I've been getting backorders and wrong orders more lately.

Once again, thanks Rich, you've got my business.


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## agony (Sep 27, 2007)

I totally agree. I ordered last Friday, and it arrived this Monday morning.


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## neonblackjack (Oct 27, 2010)

I agree. I've been looking around for a pipe tobacco etailer with this type of large selection & customer service oriented business model, and 4noggins seems to be it. They are easily 4noggins above the competition. :banplease:


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## SmoknTaz (Jun 18, 2008)

Shipping is fast and the service is excellent. Another :nod: for Rich and the gang at 4nogs! :clap2:


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## Jack Straw (Nov 20, 2008)

I had a good experience with Rich/4Nogg's on a recent purchase.


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## Hfdpipe (Oct 29, 2010)

prices are great, as well as the selection. I like the fact that besides the high end brands there's some old label drug store favs mixed available as well.


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## IrishRogue (Nov 15, 2010)

Well it looks like I need to switch to them for my next orders...

Thanks for the post!


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## pomorider (Nov 14, 2009)

I have heard nothing but rave review about Richard at 4 noggins. When I placed my order with him last week, he was pleasant to talk to. I can't wait to sample his blend.


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## lbiislander (Oct 15, 2010)

CWL
+1 for the recommendation. I spent 30 mins on the phone with Rich today. Turns out he used to live about 5 mins from where I work and we had a great talk about the area and how it's changed, business in general and, oh yeah, pipes! Waiting for some of his new inventory to be loaded up at which time I get PAD. Thanks again.


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## Walter MItty (Sep 27, 2009)

Rich goes the extra mile to meet or exceed his customer's expectations. I highly recommend them as well. I pay with USPS money orders to avoid the scrutiny of the wife. No problems with this, and he ships the day the payments arrive. I shop in a lot of places, but I keep coming back to 4noggins!


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## lbiislander (Oct 15, 2010)

Walter MItty said:


> I pay with USPS money orders to avoid the scrutiny of the wife.


MY NEW PLAN :banana:


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## jaypulay (Feb 21, 2010)

I've ordered once from Rich and have nothing but great things to say about him and 4noggins!


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## ChronoB (Nov 4, 2007)

Walter MItty said:


> I pay with USPS money orders to avoid the scrutiny of the wife. !


:crazy: Dude, that will only lead to bad things! Kudos for trying, though :first::clap2:


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## indigosmoke (Sep 1, 2009)

I absolutely hate them!....naaaaa, just kidding.... 

I ordered from 4 noggins once and had a good experience as well. If they had a slightly greater selection of pipes I'd probably order from them more often but they promise more to come so we'll see. I think we're very lucky to have so many good online vendors (while some may disagree, I've had nothing but good experiences with smokingpipes, pipes&cigars, mars, boswells, the tobacco barn, iwan ries, lj peretti, and cup o' joes). I just hope this excellent online environment continues. Having recently followed the thread on how it is illegal for any vendor to ship tobacco within Canada I can't help but wonder if the US can be far behind. This is particularly bad for folks in my area as we have absolutely no good B&Ms.

Enjoy it while you can fellows!


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## Granger (Jul 24, 2010)

4noggins is my source for Sugar Barrel and I am bout to get me some of his blends.

Of course, these Sterling Tobaccos look good, I have never had them!


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## jfdiii (Nov 12, 2010)

Ordered some Penzance late, late Thursday evening. It's Monday night and I'm enjoying my third bowl. In all fairness I have found Cup o Joes just as quick.


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## neonblackjack (Oct 27, 2010)

jfdiii said:


> Ordered some Penzance late, late Thursday evening. It's Monday night and I'm enjoying my third bowl. In all fairness I have found Cup o Joes just as quick.


Cup o' Joes seems to be great too. The problem for me is the 78%(!!!!) tobacco sales tax here in NY state. I get hit with that when I order from Cup o Joes (they do pay 28% of it), but because 4noggins is in Vermont, I am safe from the taxman. Big pain. Of course, I think that tax is only on delivery(I don't actually know) so if I had a car, I'd drive the thirty minutes to buy in the Cup o Joes store.


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## laloin (Jun 29, 2010)

when SG bulk blends was last here I was able to get some FVF and a few other things from Rich at 4nuggins, he and his wife are good people.
Only wish he would carry MacBaren's Mixture and 7 seas blends other then that, hats off to him.
too bad I can buy anymore tobacco for awhile, maybe with Birthday money 
troy


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## CWL (Mar 25, 2010)

jfdiii said:


> Ordered some Penzance late, late Thursday evening. It's Monday night and I'm enjoying my third bowl. In all fairness I have found Cup o Joes just as quick.


They won't be getting my business for a very long time. CoJ's took my order, then emailed me 2 days later to inform me that 2 of the 3 items I ordered were back ordered, then I received my 1 item a week after that. An indefinite wait for the backordered items like the Penzance, and 1 item shipped for shipping charge of $8.95...

I don't feel I get treated like that by 4Noggins, if they don't have it, they don't sell it and I'm updated immediately that my complete order shipped with tracking #.


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## Jack Straw (Nov 20, 2008)

cwl said:


> 4Noggins, if they don't have it, they don't sell it


 You must not have been ordering from them for long, because that's not true. I don't think it's fair to malign cupojoes based on what appears to be one experience at each retailer. Unless things have changed, if 4noggins is out of stock on something they will just send you the part of your order they have and write a note that lets you know the other part is backordered. So you don't even know it's backordered for days when you open the box like a kid on christmas only to find santa stiffed you. This has left a lot of people soured in the past (search for the sam gawith preorder debacle of last year), including myself. But now that I've learned that 4noggins doesn't have a live inventory, what I do is just make sure to call and confirm that what I want is indeed in stock, which is fine by me. It's better to do it that way anyway because Rich is nice to talk to on the phone. :tu I'd do the same thing if I were ordering tobacco from cupojoes.


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## indigosmoke (Sep 1, 2009)

Andrew,

I agree with your sentiments, although I certainly understand Charles' frustration and feelings. Personally, I think they should have dropped him a line and asked him if he wanted a partial order shipped if such a policy is not clearly stated on their website. So many of these types of problems could be nipped in the bud if policies and procedures were clearly stated on the website in the first place (witness the Consignment/Ebay/Discontinued Tobacco 4noggins fiasco of earlier this year.) 

I agree with you about the calling first, which I usually do, particularly if I am ordering one of the tobaccos (Stonehaven, Penzance, FVF) that seem to cause a feeding frenzy. I know others don't believe they should have to do this, and I understand those feelings as well.

I think over the past year or so I've seen people report problems with all of the major online retailers of one type or another. However, in almost all cases if the customer contacts the retailer they do their best to make it good, what we used to call service recovery when I worked for the Mouse. Unfortunately, as one of my managers at Disney used to say the problem with having good service recovery is that the vast majority of unhappy customers never let you know they are unhappy (although they don't hesitate to tell everyone else they know that they are unhappy) so you never get a chance to correct the problem which is why he always stressed getting it right the first time, every time. Charles, have you called or sent them an email? You might want to call and see if they will take care of you by sending you the back ordered tobacco without charging another shipping fee or in some other way to make you feel better about your experience. Of course you are well within your rights not to favor them with your custom any more. 

I think all vendors could learn something by employing another Disney World technique for dealing with customer problems and complaints. They call it LAST. Listen, Acknowledge, Solve, Thank. Goes a long way with most folks.

Not trying to stir anything up. Just my 2 cents as they say.


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## CWL (Mar 25, 2010)

Jack Straw said:


> You must not have been ordering from them for long, because that's not true. I don't think it's fair to malign cupojoes based on what appears to be one experience at each retailer. Unless things have changed, if 4noggins is out of stock on something they will just send you the part of your order they have and write a note that lets you know the other part is backordered. So you don't even know it's backordered for days when you open the box like a kid on christmas only to find santa stiffed you. This has left a lot of people soured in the past (search for the sam gawith preorder debacle of last year), including myself. But now that I've learned that 4noggins doesn't have a live inventory, what I do is just make sure to call and confirm that what I want is indeed in stock, which is fine by me. It's better to do it that way anyway because Rich is nice to talk to on the phone. :tu I'd do the same thing if I were ordering tobacco from cupojoes.


If you read my OP, I was careful to not name other companies, but since CoJs was brought up, I shared my experiences with them. The key word here is "experience*s*" As with all "experiences" these are uniquely mine and I am sharing them.

Frankly, what makes you think I had only one experience with each etailer? I already stated that I purchase quite often online, and in very large QTYs actually. I have used CoJ's at least 4 times, I think 5 times this year, for purchases averaging several hundred dollars each time. Twice in the last 3 months, neither of which I can say was a pleasant experience that made me want to go back. Also, where did I "malign" CoJ's as opposed to share another recent experience? I didn't think it necessary to bring up that I did call CoJ's and talk to a lady there, I didn't originally think it necessary to mention that she seemed to have quite an "attitude" over the phone as well, kinda like I should be grateful that they would sell me anything...


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## indigosmoke (Sep 1, 2009)

CWL said:


> I didn't think it necessary to bring up that I did call CoJ's and talk to a lady there, I didn't originally think it necessary to mention that she seemed to have quite an "attitude" over the phone as well, kinda like I should be grateful that they would sell me anything...


Certainly no excuse for that. My experiences on the phone with them have always been pleasant, but as they say YMM and apparently did V.


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## Jack Straw (Nov 20, 2008)

CWL said:


> If you read my OP, I was careful to not name other companies, but since CoJs was brought up, I shared my experiences with them. The key word here is "experience*s*" As with all "experiences" these are uniquely mine and I am sharing them.
> 
> Frankly, what makes you think I had only one experience with each etailer? I already stated that I purchase quite often online, and in very large QTYs actually. I have used CoJ's at least 4 times, I think 5 times this year, for purchases averaging several hundred dollars each time. Twice in the last 3 months, neither of which I can say was a pleasant experience that made me want to go back. Also, where did I "malign" CoJ's as opposed to share another recent experience? I didn't think it necessary to bring up that I did call CoJ's and talk to a lady there, I didn't originally think it necessary to mention that she seemed to have quite an "attitude" over the phone as well, kinda like I should be grateful that they would sell me anything...


Sorry to have misinterpreted. The only reason I said anything is that to my reading (even if it wasn't your intent) your post implied they are the only company out there who will sometimes show stuff as in stock, even if it isn't. I just wanted to make sure they didn't get an unnecessarily bad rap. As John wrote, all of the big etailers have had problems of some kind at some point or another. I have personally had a "sorry it turns out we don't actually have that in stock" from smokingpipes, 4nogs, mars, and P&C.


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## Fritzchen (Nov 18, 2009)

Good Day All,

Over the last couple years of expanding my pipe rotation and tobacco cellar, I have placed online orders ranging at times from modest to quite considerable with most of the better known e-tailers: 4Noggins, SmokingPipes, Cup o Joes, Mars, Iwan Ries, PayLess. 

Some ship quicker and some are somewhat slower. There are even differences at times with the same e-tailer. Some have slightly higher prices than others, and some include free shipping while others do not. On rare occasions there have been out-of-stock issues with fast moving blends resulting in a back order: luck of the draw, but had I called on the telephone that problem could have been avoided altogether. Never was there a situation with any of them that was not resolved to satisfaction in the end. 

In one recent case, a pound of SG 'Grousemoor' was out of stock and the proprietor contacted me to apologize and to ask if there was a pound of something else that I might like instead. I had a quick look online and suggested a pound of G&H Kendal Flake and to bill me for the difference in price: the order came with the KF at no additional charge.

Parts of the bulk SG that I ordered via Cup o Joes are in backorder. They promptly sent an e-mail notifying of the situation with a delivery time frame of 3-4 months. OK, fine; we all know the situation and it will get here when it gets here. Last time they had something on back order and were about to fill the order, they called me up to ask if I still wanted it or had any other wishes. The lady on the telephone was very polite and friendly with me, as I was to her. Recently, I ordered something from them on a Friday afternoon and received it on Monday. At other times they have not been so quick. Oh, well.

The point is that they all have their strengths and weaknesses, at times are more quick and efficient than at others, and at any given time might have their good and bad: don't we all. We should consider ourselves thankful that as consumers we have the array of choices that we do and that these businesses can even exist given the political stigma surrounding the products. Unfortunately (to quote the muse) 'Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms' is not a convenience store.

Enjoy it while it lasts and be thankful for the good things. Tolerate that which in the grand scope of things is a minor inconvenience, unless the e-tailer absolutely does not make it right in the end. And spread the business around so that we might have luxury of choice as far into the future as possible: keeps them all on their toes to our advantage.

Best Regards,
Steve


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## CWL (Mar 25, 2010)

Thanks John, you are a voice of calm & reason. Also, Andrew, I understand that you want to stand up for companies if you think I am being harsh on them.

My intent is to share what I believe are exceptional experiences that I have had with 4Noggins.


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